EP. REVIEW: Zombie Land Saga

Joined: 05 May 2015
Posts: 230
Location: Your guess is as good as mine?!

Posted: Sat Oct 20, 2018 10:35 am

Bonkers but absolutely amazing, everyone who collaborated to make this happen are complete genius.

Given the name of the show I knew exactly what was going to happen when Sakura ran out her front door, yet it still had the necessary impact (no pun intended). Honestly though, that moment sold the show for me and I may have laughed more than I should have done.

The screaming and headbanging at the Death Metal concert had me in stitches. When dislocating your necks isn't a concern or fatal problem you really can go all out, lol. Sakura and Saki then following that up in episode 2 with a rap-off and throwing Tae-chan's head around was just perfect.

All the characters are fun, I especially like MC Sakura and hows she's trying to make the best out of a bad situation. But Mamoru Miyano voicing their manager is ridiculously good, he seems to be channelling a lot of his inner Hououin Kyouma and is completely stealing the scenes. Though Tae-chan deserves an honourable mention just for being Tae-chan, after all she's "Legendary" 'just because'.

For me this show will probably be the laugh of the Autumn Season considering these first 3 episodes have been a riot. The only thing I didn't like was the CGI, the impromptu performance in Ep 3 looked really bad and didn't blend well at all. I'm 50/50 on whether it's deliberately bad or just plain bad because it's so garishly ugly.

Last edited by Chaos Wings on Sat Oct 20, 2018 1:20 pm; edited 3 times in total

The girls are great, but the real MVP of Zombie Land Saga is our producer Kotaro, and by extension his seiyuu Mamoru Miyano. His talent as an actor should be no surprise to anyone, but he gives 110% to this role, and the result is both glorious and hilarious.

He's the reason i'll probably continue to watch this anime even if it should turn into more of a Generic Idol Show (and Zombies) as ep. 3 seemed to suggest. The first two episodes were fantastic though, making fun of genre stereotypes and giving us some really creative and hilarious performances.

Steins;Gate 0 recently (love it or hate it or lukewarm it) was a great reminder of how good Miyano is, and so it's delightful to see him get to just explode in this show.

I guess the CGI in episode 3 is supposed to be a parody of its use in other idol anime, probably...? Either way, it was still ucky, and I do have the same concern as others that it may just be heading into stereotypical earnest up-and-coming idol story with jokes, so I hope they've got more up their sleeves soon.

Typically, I have a difficult time liking protagonists because they're so bland and predictable, but Sakura is easily my favorite character in ZLS. Timid, but also sociable, and can only be walked on so much before snapping back, as episode 2 proved. Been getting such a kick from the 8 Mile parodies that rap battle led to

I will say though, that episode 3 was really bad. The hamfisted shifts in tones and the horrible CG were just too much for me to enjoy episode 3 as much as the previous two. And like the initial commenter on this thread, I'm not entirely certain it was deliberate. I still laughed a pretty good amount this episode though.

But aside from that, I'm really loving ZLS. Definitely something I'd recommend to friends and buy merch for. And I hope the series starts using different flashbacks instead of that same idol shot, over and over again.

I guess it's unfair to say that ep 3 was disappointing because it was a typical idol episode but I still hope that this was just momentary and Ep.4 will feature a different style and from this point on we don't have anymore idol stuff until the very last episode. I'm also not quite convinced that the CG was parody, I feel like every time a dance routine from some idol show is posted somewhere it has this level of quality to it (plus if it was really a parody they wouldn't have missed the opportunity to make a joke about how they looked more like dead puppet when they danced with make up on than when they were just regular zombie).

Still everything else outside of the CG is pretty damn amazing, 100% agree that Kotaro and his VA are the show MVP. I still at his "I'M NOT F***ing wikipedia" . And Tae is absolutely legendary. It's amazing what good writing can do and I'm eagerly awaiting what happen next week (pls no CG dance number anymore).

Lily is a sickeningly sweet child actress from an undetermined era, although given her very anime-ish mannerisms, it was probably pretty recent. Yugiri is straight-up a courtesan who acts like she's gotta be out of the Edo or Meiji periods.

According to the official site, Lily died in 2011 and Yugiri died in 1882. So yeah, Lily died during this decade and Yugiri died during the Meiji era. Tae is currently the only one whose details about her life are completely unknown so far.

That said, I'm normally not one for idol shows, but this one has enough twists on the formula that I've been enjoying it quite a bit so far!

For some reason in episode 3, I thought Sakura's face was going to be horrifying yet comically disfigured after her face got smacked onto the ground after that merry-go-round scene. Though that would have been a too obvious gag.

This show so far is amusing as heck though I hate having this nagging feeling of whether Zombieland Saga can keep up the entertainment factor throughout the entire show's run.

For some reason in episode 3, I thought Sakura's face was going to be horrifying yet comically disfigured after her face got smacked onto the ground after that merry-go-round scene. Though that would have been a too obvious gag.

Same here, I was thinking the same holding in my chair for when she was reveal her face ruining her incoming speech. Then not was wrong with her face and... slap, I was took by surprise and I have to say, it was VERY unfair.
Hope that this won't be a recurring thing.

For some reason in episode 3, I thought Sakura's face was going to be horrifying yet comically disfigured after her face got smacked onto the ground after that merry-go-round scene. Though that would have been a too obvious gag.

Same here, I was thinking the same holding in my chair for when she was reveal her face ruining her incoming speech. Then not was wrong with her face and... slap, I was took by surprise and I have to say, it was VERY unfair.
Hope that this won't be a recurring thing.

Zombie Land Saga isn't a parody but it is definitely a comedy which is even more humorous than Wake Up Girls. While Franchouchou is a very unconventional idol group I think the show does agree with the general idea that you can make the world a better place through song and dance. The show does point out the limitations of what is expected from idol groups and how artificial the idol industry can be. I don't know if the show will seriously examine that issue or merely use it for humor but it is rare for an idol show to even mention it. Also I have to give credit to a show that proved that slapstick comedy could be done well in an idol show.

This show continues to nail the kind of humor that seems to only be really possible in anime: a mixture of zany tone, sarcastic dialogue, and willingness to commit to its own premise, which I haven't seen executed quite this well since World Conquest Zvezda Plot.

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